


Born Yesterday

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Children, Developing Relationship, Divorce, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 06:10:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12315330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	Born Yesterday

After the hell that had been this past year, with having her best friend in prison for a crime he didn’t commit to having one of the most notorious killers they’d ever faced constantly five steps ahead until recently, JJ and Will’s relationship and been pushed to the brink. 

Both still loved each other dearly, but they couldn’t handle both being in law enforcement anymore. It was too much of a strain and neither could imagine giving their jobs up despite their love for each other, so 9 months ago they’d called it quits. It had been one of the hardest things JJ had ever had to do, but she, Will and the kids were better off for the long haul. Fights had started to take over their free time together and it wasn’t okay for them to do that in front of the boys. They were both happier now.

Nearly three and a half months ago, she’d met Brandon, a computer engineer that worked in the city and had a divorce under his belt and two kids of his own as well. At first, she’d taken his number with the intent of remaining friends, but as they got to know each other, she found herself more and more intrigued with what made him tick, and now they were seeing each other.

After two months, it was serious enough that she wanted to introduce him to the team, which was a little nerve-wracking considering she hadn’t introduced anyone to them in 10 years. The knock at the door ripped her out of her thoughts. “Hey, babe,” she said, as she opened the door to reveal her new boyfriend. “Nervous?”

“A bit,” he laughed. “How could I not be? Your teammates have known Will for your entire relationship and I’m the new guy. Are we outright saying that we’re dating or am I a “friend” for right now?”

JJ wasn’t quite sure. She didn’t really want the questions right now - the inevitable ones that came with a new relationship and a member of the BAU. “I would say let’s just go with friends for now. My friends mean well, but they can get a little invasive when someone starts a new relationship.”

“Sounds good,” he chuckled. He pressed a kiss to her hairline and helped her get the rest of dinner ready while they waited for her team to arrive.

Nearly 20 minutes later, everyone began to show up. Of course Spencer was first, always the most prompt of the group, followed by Luke, Tara and Matt, and then Emily, Rossi, and lastly Garcia, who always seemed to leave first and end up arriving the latest. “Everyone, this is my friend Brandon.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, giving everyone a small wave as they sat down at the table. “JJ’s told me all about you.”

Everyone seemed friendly, but more than a bit curious. She’d said friend, but nearly all of them assumed that the two had been seeing each other after JJ’s separation from Will. “Tell us a little bit about yourself, Brandon,” Tara said. She assumed he’d delve into talking about his former singlehood of marital status, the way a significant other word, but JJ must’ve prepped him for the onslaught of questions he’d receive from her friends.

“Well, I work as a computer engineer in the city with Integration Innovation, Inc. I specialize in cyber security. Our company actually works in conjunction with the Department of Defense a lot,” he started, delving into the varying aspects of his job.

As he spoke, Garcia immediately took a liking to him, because well, he was a computer guy, and she was brilliant technical analyst and former hacker. “I can tell you that I already like you,” Garcia laughed. “Any fellow computer nerd is a friend of mine.”

It was mainly the more senior members of the team that grilled Brandon on everything from his job to where he met JJ to whether or not he knew what Henry and Michael’s favorite colors and movies were (Spencer asked all the questions regarding the boys, because if someone else was getting close to his godsons, Spencer needed to make that someone was worthy.)

Somehow, the topic of divorce came up, and Rossi mentioned that he had three under his belt, though it wasn’t something he was proud of. “You ever been divorced, Brandon?” He asked, his smile knowing and mischievous as he tried to suss out how the two might get along with significant exes. 

“Unfortunately, yes,” he said, “My wife and I split about a year ago. I work a lot because we’re contracted with the DoD, and apparently me being away a lot meant she had license to sleep with the cable guy.”

Rossi hissed, feeling sorry he’d asked. “My condolences.”

“Yea,” Brandon shrugged. “It hurt at the time but now I kind of look at it like “wow, I can’t believe I got stuck in the middle of real life bad porno.” That got a chuckle from everyone at the table. “We have two kids that we share custody of, twins Ella and Evan.”

As if he knew that children were being brought up, Henry walked outside to grab a glass of water. He’d eaten earlier and was playing a video game while Michael watched before heading to bed. Heading over to the table, he said hello to everyone, giving them hugs and getting squeezed to death by his Uncle Spencer. “Hi Brandon,” he said.

“Hey Henry. How’d your homework go?”

“It’s all done! Thanks for helping me the other day.”

“Anytime, kiddo.”

Before heading back inside to play with Michael, he gave JJ a kiss. “Is Brandon spending the night again?”

JJ and Brandon closed their eyes. They’d been doing an awful job of avoiding the topic of them dating to begin with, but Henry had unequivocally just spilled the beans. “Yea, Henry,” she laughed. “Brandon’s staying tonight.”

Brandon was busted anyway, so he let it go and asked Henry if he would be up for the four of them going to breakfast in the morning. “Yes! I want chocolate chip pancakes!” And with that, he ran inside.

Silence filled the room, though smiles were abound. “So, ummm,” JJ said awkwardly, “Yea, Brandon and I are seeing each other.”

Rossi laughed out loud, and the rest of the team just snickered under their breaths. “JJ, we’ve known each other for nearly 15 years. Were we born yesterday?”


End file.
